What is standard offense, what is standard defense?

Discussions Training
#1

One of the hardest things for newer players is understanding where to be during a game. Can we come together to make an order of operations, a best practices while on offense and the corresponding response that a good defense would make? I know that there is still a lot of interpretation to what a “good” O and D are, but I think we’ve all played enough polo that we could come to an agreement what is generally the objective of each. I’m talking about naming positions, roles, common plays (drop pass/drug deal, passing up when double teamed)

It would be nice to have a document that can show a flow chart, or dare say anyone has animation skills to show the flow of the game, for newer players to at least have the basics.

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#2

When I started I kept on doing what worked well for me in other sports:

In offense:
Try to be where no defender is
OR
Try to occupy a defender such that they are not available for your team mate
Pretend you do something but have something else in mind

In defense:
Try to be where an offender is or be close enough to get there when necessary (especially ball carrier and obvious passing options)
Always pressure the one with the ball
Invite them to make a pass/move that you can predict and react well to, try not to be surprised

Both:
Try to predict as much as you can. Recognize patterns. Know what is easy, possible, likely, expected, deadly, etc.

This is quite fundamental and it has to be in harmony with your team mates, but perhaps it is not so obvious to people not being used to team sports.

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#3

Now if you want to talk about coordinated offense and defense then I guess my answer was a bit off topic.

Classic defense is 1 goalie in the crease, 1 “guard” near the crease and 1 “chaser” putting pressure on the ball. Guard and chaser may switch roles frequently or not. Chaser can try to get the ball or just to “be in the way” to make it harder to approach the goal and create a scoring opportunity or open shot. Guard may be active and very mobile or rather stationary and just cutting the angle of possible shots. Most teams play some form of this defense but there are very diffent takes on the guard and chaser roles and how they switch. Then also the goalie may be more active to leave their spot and switch with either of the other roles. Some teams play very stationary with almost fixed roles, others are extremely fluid with the roles, even within one attack there can be many switches.

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